Over 28 years ago in 1980, the managing director seized the opportunity to be involved with the setting up and running of a market in the heart of Windsor within sight of the world famous Windsor Castle and home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The Windsor Antiques & Flea-market was quickly home to a collection of more than 40 small market traders, some having permanent stalls under cover inside the market and others having casual stalls, usually outside.  
The Fleamarket boasted an eclectic product range and a truly varied selection of goods for sale.  Antique & second hand gold & silver jewellery second hand & antique toys, collectable glass, china, porcelain including Royal Commemorative wares, furniture, costume-jewellery & watches all at very reasonable and competitive prices. There were also fresh cut & silk flowers, potted plants, garden supplies, car spares and a specialist dealing in pre-owned designer clothing, before it became de-rigueur or even fashionable.    The market was housed in buildings earmarked for re-development, and so it was with some advance planning that premises with a more secure future were obtained.

A small retail unit, (400 sq ft) almost opposite the flea-market was acquired on a twenty five year lease in 1984. We named it the Windsor Antiques Gallery, but could accommodate only one stallholder, namely Berkshire Antiques Company.
The Gallery and the Flea market continued to trade simultaneously and brought many new visitors to a part of Windsor that had become merely a pedestrian route to Eton and its antique shops and of course historic Eton College.

The close proximity of the Flea market and the other newly opened shops dealing in similar aged goods all helped to concentrate the mix and choice of goods and inevitably meant that dealers from all over the country and indeed the world found that a day or more devoted to searching and shopping in Windsor was a pleasure and a profitable experience. At the end of each day there was and still is a thriving cultural environment with theatre, the Theatre Royal, centrally placed for entertainment and the opportunity to enjoy supper in the many excellent restaurants providing English, French, Chinese and Indian cuisines for the dining connoisseur as well as a pub and a pint, in fact quite a few pubs.

The Windsor Antiques Gallery (antiques & jewellery) opened around the corner in George Vth. Place.
The corner position provided much window space for display, and enabled us to show antiques and collectibles in a more contemporary setting.
We became “computerised” and our stock list was transferred to a computer database enabling us to provide customers with relevant data available with photographs directly on their invoice.

Old Boy’s Toys (antique & collectible toys) opened around another corner in River Street. (Now retired).

The Red Pale (antiquarian books prints & framing services) opened just over the bridge in Eton High Street.

Others have since opened retro fashion and designer shops as far afield as London (Kings Road) Kingston upon Thames and Southampton.

Examples of the goods that we were selling are shown above and right.

A Coldstream Guard sentry wearing the uniorm complete with bearskin and scarlet tunic outside the entrance to the Gallery was quite a talking point.
Here (left & right) photographs show the state visit of the King and Queen of Spain .

We soon became used to being on the main processional route for State Occasions.

On this occasion The Queen and the President of Hungary didn’t have time to stop and shop in our store.

The partnership was dissolved in 1995 and the business was re-structured, becoming Berkshire Antiques Company Limited a limited liability company continuing the successful and promising marketing of its range of specialist goods including antiques, collectibles and antique, second-hand and contemporary jewellery.

Soon it was evident that an even larger property was required to accommodate expanding sales and stock rooms.  Customers were happy to return and sell us their "surplus to requirement" goods as their own collections developed and often became more focussed. 
In June 1986 the present premises were acquired enabling us, as a partnership to trade as Berkshire Antiques Company, providing over 1,000 sq ft of prime showroom on a single floor.

One of the main assets of the new shop was that it had a window like a theatre stage that could be used for dramatic and extensive display of goods, despite having to share a street entrance.

The interior depth is even greater than the width of the window, hence the creation of two long galleries each crammed with jewellery and silverwares as well as porcelain and Royal Commemorative wares dating from the last decade to pre Victorian.
The showroom is interspersed with small pieces of furniture, all of which will neatly fit into virtually any modern home, and which can be complimented with textiles and light fittings to suit individual tastes.

Behind the window is 1,000 sq. ft of floorspace with many glass cabinets showing gold and silver antique vintage pre-owned and designer jewellery set with diamonds rubies emeralds sapphires opals pearls both natural and freshwater and many other precious and semi-precious stones as well as both antique and contemporary silver silverplated WMF and Sheffield plate wares O'bjets de Virtue & O'bjets d' Art. A veritable Aladdin's Cave of treasures

Berkshire Antiques Company Ltd is an afilliate Member of The National Association of Goldsmiths

Our gold and silversmith has over 30 years experience and is frequently required to lecture at local further education establishments. We are able to also to offer an expertise with diamonds acquired over the past 10 years, and will be pleased to grade (determine colour cut and clarity) stones of ¼carat or greater. In July 2001 we expanded our jewellery repairs and remodeling facilities and were able to offer a "whilst-u-wait" service for most simple repairs and ring re-sizing as well as a specialist professional re-stringing service for pearl and other necklaces which normally only takes one week.

The hospital for antique dolls and teddy bears is an extension of the important collections of dolls and teddy bears that we acquire and re-home to buyers of all occupations and collectors of all degrees.
We are one of a dwindling few providers of a doll restoration service, a sometimes very necessary but ultimately rewarding task.

Valuations for insurance and probate can be provided at fixed prices. We are local agents for Safeguard the independent jewellery valuation service (a division of The Birmingham Assay Office).

Misfortune struck us in 2004 when the whole premises was flooded from the upper floors. The showroom to be closed for 3 months whilst being refurbished, and we upgraded the floor with solid natural oak and the electrics with low voltage energy saving display lighting.

Misfortune stuck yet again two years later when a small fire in the basement caused smoke damage and much upheaval for several weeks, but the showroom remained open for business whilst our offices were closed and temporarily re-sited during repairs and restoration.

Now, we have started the website re-design to provide new and all our existing customers worldwide to be able to return to our store electronically to view the contents and purchase on line.

We hope that you will take the time out to tell us what you would like to see, and maybe even what you don't want to see, so don't be shy, email us webmaster@jewels2go.co.uk If you would like to be one of the first to see newly sourced goods in our catalogue, just fill in our catalogue form for regular updates.